Another common hypothesis is that they don’t want to deal with backlash over some of the more odd choices in the game. Some people might take offense to the magypsies, thinking that they’re somehow making a joke of trans or non-binary folks. Others might just lose their shit over there being folks like the magypsies in the game at all. And that’s ignoring the mermaid air refill things making out with a child.
I love the game, but it’s far from standard Nintendo fare in terms of tone and content.
That’s true, but Nintendo also doesn’t seem big on censoring their old content. Jynx’s design got changed in Pokemon, but most re-releases generally don’t have many major changes (even cosmetic ones). I can’t think of anything else they’d try to change.
I guess Mario RPG removed a few potentially “scandalous” things, yet they still let Mario find Peach’s “???” near her bed.
I guess the Magypsies are the problem with Mother 3. Too much redesign work.